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Mar 02, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Lila Streicher

The women of Boise-based three-piece Blood Lemon have been longtime figures as part of their local scene. Forming in 2018, the band brought together the talents of singer/guitarist Lisa Simpson (Finn Riggins), singer/bassist Melanie Radford (Built to Spill, Marshall Poole), and percussionist Lindsey Lloyd (Tambalka). Inspired by the ethic of classic ‘90s riot grrrl records and the sound of alternative stalwarts like The Pixies and The Breeders, the band burnishes political polemics with sharp riffs and tight musicianship on their upcoming self-titled debut. The band are also sharing their first single from the record, “Black-Capped Cry,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Black-Capped Cry,” like many tracks on the upcoming record, takes on environmental action, or rather, willful inaction. The trio critically examines ideologies of endless consumption and destruction, arguing that if nothing changes “We can go on forever/Out of our damn minds/Burning, destroying together/Pain is lost inside.” The band enlaces these reflections with thunderous marching drums and a rumbling powerful bass riff. The instrumental trudges onward while Simpson and Radford’s soaring vocalizations provide a moving juxtaposition, acting as the weightless counterpoint to the relentlessly heavy instrumentation. The result is poignant and energizing in equal measure.

Radford says of the song, “The main bass riff was inspired by a call from the Black-Capped Chickadee. A couple summers ago, there were a bunch of them around my house so I heard them calling to each other often. One day I kept thinking about one of their calls slowed down, playing over and over in my head, almost trance-like. So, with that idea in mind, we wrote this song as an aid to that call as though it was a call for help.”

She continues, “The song itself is about how we have been mistreating our planet through colonization, overconsumption, and industrialization. These are all pretty broad topics so we decided to have the video be more symbolic in nature.”

“When we were conceptualizing the video with Jessica (director), we decided to dig into the juxtaposition of a ‘pure’ or ‘natural’ reality versus an industrialized, post-apocalyptic one. One of them is becoming more of a reality than the other.” “We added the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ image because we wanted to include something that represents Western society’s lack of accountability, especially in regards to taking climate change seriously. We like to pretend everything is fine, but it’s not. It’s not a matter of ‘time will tell’ - we’re living it right now.” Check out the song and video below and pre-save the track here. Blood Lemon is out April 23rd.